NYC Indymedia volunteer Brad Will killed in attack by Paramilitaries in Oaxaca

Libertinus
28 Oct 2006 00:42 GMT
(translated by Libertinus)

Foto: La Reforma

Paramilitaries attacked the barricades near Oaxaca's office of justice, in the Calicanto municipality. There are several injured and one person dead.

Indymedia New York's reporter, BRAD WILL, was shot in the chest and died before he made it to the hospital; Oswaldo Ramírez, photographer for Milenio Diario, has also been shot and is injured in the foot.

THIS IS WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR ABOUT BRAD FROM A PERSON WHO WAS THERE WITH HIM:- He was at the Santa Lucia Barricade- He was shot from a distance of 30-40 meters right in the pit of the stomach- It was urban paramilitary Priistas in plain clothes who shot him- People then pulled him away to safety; its confirmed that he's dead; his body is at the red cross in oaxaca- 3 additional dead (4 total); 1 member of radio universidad was injured, he went to the hospital in a volkswagen cuz no ambulances would come

From person who was with him: [20:25] - He was at the Santa Lucia Barricade [20:25] - he was shot from a distance of 30-40 meters right in the pit of the stomach [20:25] [20:25] - They say it was urban paramilitary priistas in plain clothes [20:25] eso es [20:25] - they pulled him away to safety; its confirmed that hes dead; his body is at the red cross in oaxaca; [20:25] 3 additional dead (4 total); 1 member of radio universidad was injured, he went to the hospital in a volkswagen cuz no ambulances would come

Correction

~ 28.Oct.2006 02:32

his name was Brad, not Will.

more photos

remy 28.Oct.2006 03:07

According to the mexican newspaper El Universal (www.eluniversal.com.mx),the guys with red shirts are a paramilitary group that attacked the members of the APPO (social movement of Oaxaca) and journalists.

Brad two days ago

remy 28.Oct.2006 03:26

This a picture of Bradley taken two days ago in downtown Oaxaca (according to Narconews website).

Oaxaca en pie de lucha!!

Red 28.Oct.2006 06:03

All th e support to the workers of Oaxaca! May Bradleys death be one more reason, among with all the people who are died in the efforts of make a equal oportunities society, for the Oaxaca people to be stronger in this journey!

more photos of Brad

remy 28.Oct.2006 08:31

from ap

more photos of the assassins

remy 28.Oct.2006 08:34

from ap

Updates

UK Indymedia 28.Oct.2006 13:35

Updates 27/10/06:

(i) It was been confirmed that Oswaldo Ramírez, photographer for Milenio Diario, has also been shot and is injured.(ii) According to a post at CML at 23:06 local time the murderer of Brad Will has been identified as Pedro Carmona, a paramilitary who was the mayor of neighboorhood of Felipe Carrillo Puerto de Santa Lucía del Camino.(iii) The APPO has confirmed that schoolteacher Emilio Alfonso Fabián has died from three bullet wounds after an attack by shooters for Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.(iv) Al Giordano, a friend of Brad Will, wrote on Narco News:Tonight, from the Oaxaca City Morgue, Brad Will shouts "Ya Basta!" - Enough Already! - to the death and suffering imposed by an economic system, the capitalist system. His death will be avenged when that system is destroyed. And Brad Will's ultimate sacrifice exposes the Mexican regime for the brutal authoritarian violence that the Commercial Media hides from the world, and thus speeds the day that justice will come from below and sweep out the regimes of pain and repression that system requires. Brad gave his life tonight so that you and I could know the truth. We owe him to act upon it, and to share the risks that he took.

'William Bradley Roland, also known as Brad Will, 36, a documentary filmmaker and reporter for Indymedia New York in Mexico, Bolivia and Brazil, died today of a gunshot to the chest when pro-government attackers opened fire on a barricade in the neighborhood of Santa Lucia El Camino, on the outskirts of Oaxaca, Mexico. He died with his video camera in his hands.' (source: Narconews)

Brad had been in Oaxaca taking video and reporting on the state wide popular uprising and teacher strike that began in June with the violent attempted removal of the striking teachers from their encampment in the center of Oaxaca City by federal police forces. 3 others were also killed alongside him (making 4 dead in total); 1 member of Radio Universidad was also injured: he was taken to the hospital in a volkswagen van as police would not let any ambulances come.

Since the beginning of the strike in June, teachers and other groups have formed the APPO - the Popular Assembly of the Oaxacan People - and have called for the removal of the governor of state Ulises Ruiz of the PRI. There is a long history of Mexico using government sponsored paramilitaries to repress social movements, including a massacre of hundreds of students in Mexico City in 1968. As reports of protesters surrounded by armed government forces and police continue to pour in, activists in cities around the world are planning protests at Mexican embassies in outcry against the violent aggression against the people of Oaxaca.

Brad Will's death has been confirmed by La Jornada (Mexico) and Radio APPO Oaxaca. A photographer from the newspaper Milenio Diario, who was at Will's side, was shot in the foot and reportedly injured, his status currently unknown. Radio APPO, the radio of the Popular Assembly of the Oaxacan People, is reporting truckloads of armed paramilitaries entering the city. They are calling for people to reinforce the thousands of barricades that have been constructed for months as part of the statewide teachers' strike and popular uprising that has demanded the removal of PRI governor Ulisis Ortiz Ruiz.

As reported on the global Indymedia site, Brad was at the Santa Lucia Barricade and was shot from a distance of 30-40 meters right in the pit of the stomach. They say it was urban paramilitary PRI-istas in plain clothes who shot him. People then pulled him away to safety, however it is confirmed that he is dead; his body is at the Red Cross in Oaxaca.

¿Abajo las guerrillas? ¡¡Abajo los CÓMPLICES de la barbarie!!

Photos of Brad just before he died

remy 28.Oct.2006 16:58

From the website of El Universal (www.eluniversal.com.mx)

Brad was shot from pro-government paramilitaries just a few days after the PAN-PRI-controled Mexican Congress decided to side with the governor of Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz. What happened yesterday is very likely a provocation from the same PRI-PAN coalition in order to justify the intervention of federal troops (ordered by president Fox last night) in order to bring "peace" (of the cementaries) in Oaxaca. It is now clear that the federal goverment has chosen repression over negotiation. Knowing that the new "elected" president Calderón has no legitimacy, the PAN-PRI coalition and the neoliberal project in Mexico cannot afford the political cost of a governor trown out by the people. Yet the "winds from below" in Mexico will just keep growing, and Brad died as a witness of it.

Testimonies from Mexican Newspapers (quick translations)

remy 28.Oct.2006 18:35

From Enrique Mendez and Blanche Petrich (La Jornada):

(…) The shooting started from a house in Juarez Street and the b rigadistas (APPO sympathizers) saw that the person who was shooting was a woman. The members of the APPO responded jumping into a truck and throwing it into the house, and shooting fireworks towards the house. In that moment, from the end of the street, men that came out from cars, some wearing red shirts, started shooting at the brigadistas.

The APPO sympathizers responded with fireworks and stones and the journalists protected themselves behind cars and trees. Oswaldo Ramirez (from Milenio) was taking pictures from behind a car when he was shot. Bradley Will was in the middle of the street with his camera taping the shootings when he was shot twice, once on the side and the other under his chest.

His friend fotographer Gustavo Vilchis and three other people took him away from Juarez Street. They took his shirt off and Vilchis tried to rescue him but Brad was all white.

“A car”, “an ambulance”, they screamed. The owners of white volkswagen with plates LUG235, from the state of Mexico, approached Brad, who was still alive. They took him to the Red Cross, but he died in the way.(…)

(…) According to pictures taken by El Universal, when Brad was shot, were involved in the shootings the chief of the public security (police) of the town Santa Lucia del Camino, Avel Santiago Zárate and the chief of the personel of the town (administrated by the PRI), Manuel Aguilar (who is the cousin of David Aguilar Robles, local lider of the CROC and local congressman for the PRI). Were also involved the police officer Juan Carlos Soriano Velasco, alias El Chapulin, and Pedro Carmona, former president of the neighborhood Felipe Carrillo Puerto. (…)

God Bless Brad - And His family and freieds

Very Sorry and hope the best for Brads family and friends-- 28.Oct.2006 19:12

I would like to say that I ask gods peace and love on Brad-and that i am sure that he has helped and touched many people in his short time -in a way to make living a better life posiable- his deriser to expose unjust and ceul conditions is and was a virture only few can command- thank you and god bless all.

How the US corporate media covers up

Tim 29.Oct.2006 00:22

How the US corporate media covers up the death of a [leftist] colleague in Mexico

Media reports of the North American Indymedia journalist killed in Oaxaca: compare these accounts:

A U.S. journalist and two Mexican men were killed by gunfire in the Mexican city of Oaxaca, where leftist protesters have barricaded streets and occupied government buildings for five months in a bid to oust the governor. Several other people were injured. The gunfire erupted in a rough Oaxaca neighborhood when armed men tried to remove a blockade set up by protesters who are demanding the resignation of Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz, said a police official who was not authorized to speak on the record. Both sides fired but it was not clear who shot first, he said. Bradley Roland Will, 36, of New York, was shot in the abdomen and died at a Red Cross hospital, police, witnesses and friends said.

American, Brad Will, 36, a journalist with the New York-based Indymedia, was shot in the abdomen in a rough neighborhood of Oaxaca City. Will had been filming an armed clash between protesters and pro-government men tearing down street barricades. ________________________________

New York Times - Reuters - "prolonged shootouts against protesters .. killed in the conflict" - source not stated Troops Are Sent to Mexican City After Death of 3 By REUTERS Published: October 29, 2006

On Friday, at least two prolonged shootouts against protesters killed three people, including the journalist, Bradley Roland Will, 36, who was working with NYC Indymedia, a leftist multimedia production group. Nine people, mostly protesters, have been killed in the conflict, which began when striking teachers and leftists occupied much of Oaxaca five months ago, storming Congress and blocking streets in an effort to oust state Gov. Ulises Ruiz.

THIS IS WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR ABOUT BRAD FROM A PERSON WHO WAS THERE WITH HIM: - He was at the Santa Lucia Barricade - He was shot from a distance of 30-40 meters right in the pit of the stomach - They say it was urban paramilitary priistas in plain clothes who shot him

A list of protests

Two more pictures of the assassins

remy 29.Oct.2006 15:19

According to NYC indymedia, the CML (Centro de Medios Libres of Mexico) has the tapes of Brad, tapes that show the guy who shot at him. That guy has been identified as Pedro Carmona, former president of the neighborhood Felipe Carrillo Puerto. I don't know who, in the pictures above, Pedro Carmona is.

Two more pictures of Brad moments before his dead

remy 29.Oct.2006 15:31

Pictures from El Universal (www.eluniversal.com.mx)

Brad's last footage

remy 29.Oct.2006 16:55

The best account of what happened comes from Brad's last footage itself: http://video.indymedia.org/download/[Indymedia]_(2006-10-29)_Infamia-contra-Bradley_ataqueArmado-en-SantaLucia-del-Camino__Oaxaca--27oct06.mp4 It is not clear from the footage who shot at him, but it is very clear who were the real agressors. The PRI-coordinated attacks in several parts of the city, documented by Brad, were a clear provocation to the people of Oaxaca. Instead of arresting Ulises Ruiz (who was yesterday in Abascal's office - minister of interior), Fox decided to send the PFP (federal police) to Oaxaca. In other words, Fox has decided to side with the murderers rather than the people of Oaxaca.

audio is graphic

bee 30.Oct.2006 04:20

the footage and audio is clear. You will hear the shot as it is fired and as it hits the journalist and you will immediately hear him scream and watch the shot fall as he does.

My friend Brad Will has been shot to death in Oaxaca

David Rovics (sent by anonymous) 31.Oct.2006 13:02

My friend Brad Will has been shot to death in Oaxaca

brad will was a dear friend, and a true revolutionary. he died the way countless and uncounted numbers of beautiful people have died in recent centuries -- he was shot in the chest by rightwing paramilitaries. he was filming the scene around one of thousands of barricades that have shut down oaxaca city since last june, when the governor there tried to ban public expressions of dissent, thus throwing one more historical spark into one more historical powder keg.

brad embodied the spirit of indymedia. he was not just covering stories that the "mainstream" press ignores, such as the exciting, violent revolutionary moment which has gripped oaxaca for several months now. brad was not risking his life to get a good shot of a confrontation at a barricade because he might get a photo on the cover of a newspaper, get some (perhaps well-deserved) fame and money -- he was posting his communiques on indymedia, for free.

sure, brad was filming in order to cover history. but he was there also to make history. brad knew that a camera is a weapon, or hopefully a shield of some sort, and sometimes can serve to de-escalate a situation, to protect people from being violated, beaten, killed. and brad knew that if the independent media didn't document history, nobody else would.

brad deeply appreciated the power of music and culture. if he didn't have a camera in his hands, he often had a guitar. during some of his many travels around latin america he wrote emails to me about the musicians he met, with whom he shared my songs and recordings. he particularly liked my song "saint patrick battalion," and reportedly shared his rendition of it with lots of people. he would not live to know just how much his life and death would resemble the san patricios, who died fighting for mexico during the first u.s. invasion of that country in the 1840's.

through all brad did and saw on large swaths of three different continents, he somehow continually brought with him a boundless enthusiasm and obvious love of life, love, a good party, or a good riot. he was my favorite kind of person, my favorite kind of revolutionary -- the sort who is just as comfortable talking about revolutionary theory, current events, music, relationships or smoking a bowl on a manhattan rooftop at sunset. the kind of person who is alive, in mind, body and spirit, in equal proportions.

brad became a radical long before it was briefly fashionable in the u.s. (with the wto protests in seattle), and long since it became unfashionable there (september 11th, 2001). the kinds of tactics and politics that the global justice movement became briefly known for were practiced by people like brad in the squatters' movement in new york city and the radical environmental movement on the west coast in the 1990's. brad was in both places and many more. brad was somewhere near the ground floor of many other more recent anarchist institutions -- food not bombs, critical mass, reclaim the streets, guerrilla gardening, indymedia. he saw the connections, deeply understood the concept of "the commons," and went for it, as an activist, a videojournalist, a musician and a cheerleader.

i never knew brad's last name until he was murdered. for me he was just brad. in my cell phone he was "brad nyc" (to distinguish him from another good friend named brad, who lives in baltimore). i don't remember talking with him much about his past, where he grew up, how he became a revolutionary, though we may have talked about that sort of thing. but generally i saw him in the course of events, whether it was a film showing/concert on a brooklyn rooftop, a land occupation in the bronx, or, just as often, a large demonstration against an evil financial institution somewhere in the world.

i've sung at many such events, and brad has been at most of them -- and he's been present at many which i didn't make it to. they're all such a blur, i don't remember which ones anymore. but the many encounters always start out with a warm smile and a hug, and usually involve some kind of chaos going on, with brad comfortably in the middle of it. sometimes -- all too rarely, i suddenly realize -- the encounters would continue after the chaos subsided, and we could be in a quiet place with a small group of people, chilling and talking about life, my favorite bits.

there have been many debates about whether it is more useful to organize large events or to focus on community organizing locally. whether to focus on recording history or making it. whether to educate or to act. whether to have a party or have a meeting. brad clearly decided that the correct answer is "all of the above." the reality of this is easy to demonstrate -- talk to anybody in new york city involved with just about any aspect of the progressive movement. it's a city of 8 million people, but if they are serious participants in the more grassroots end of the movement, they know brad. though they may not have known his last name. he's just brad, the tall, thin guy with long hair who is often flashing a warm, gentle smile with a compassionate, intelligent glint in his eye. he's often described with a connector like "brad from indymedia" or "brad from more gardens" or "brad the musician."

i haven't seen him in a while. several months at least. but suddenly i miss him so much. i miss hanging out with him in the lower east side, chilling at his place there, swapping stories. i miss the rejuvinating warmth of his presence. i miss the unspoken, mutual admiration. i miss the feeling that i was in the presence of someone who so deeply felt his connection to the world. the feeling that here was someone who would die for me, and me for him, no questions asked. and now, like so many others before him, he's done just that.

like all of the rest of us, over the generations his memory will fade and eventually disappear. but for those of us alive today who had the honor of being one of brad's large circle of friends, his memory will be with us painfully, deeply, lovingly, until we all join him beneath the ground -- hopefully only after each of us has managed to have the kind of impact on each other, on the movement, and the world that brad surely had in his short 36 years.

US covert involvement

Townsend Barker 01.Nov.2006 09:19

This type of STATE SPONSORED violence is what we can expect in the US as a direct result of George Bush and his extreme right wing policies and advisors In fact this was likely a "hit" by US spec ops people sending a message to Indymedia. School of America's anyone? Notice the US made assault rifles and vehicles in the background.

Twists and turns of the investigation around Brad Will murder

Eduardo Izquierdo 16.Nov.2006 16:15

How sad that Indymedia and the leftist intellingentsia are supporting those who may be the actual killers of Brad. As newly released material about the investigation of the murder shows: (a) Brad was received a second shot made at close distance; (b) the videos taken at the site of the shooting show brad with only one shot in the lower part of the torax; (c) the autopsy revealed that Brad died of bleeding in the abdominal, not the toracical, cavity; (d) Brad's body was taken away by APPO members suppoesedly with the purpose of delivering it to a Hospital for treatment, but never actually made its way to ANY hospital at all for treatment; (e)he was delivered already dead to the amphytheater two and a half hours after the original shooting; (f) in the videos it can easily be heard that somebody quite close to Brad is demanding him to turn off his camera. Connect the points and get the real picture.